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Is someone able to post a complete list of official dizzy games with their respective platforms that provide the total dizzy experience?

I'm trying to play through all the different versions of the games as I only had an Amiga back in the day. I know it's possible to search wikipedia and the pages here to see what platforms the games CAN be played on, but I'm looking for a fairly unique playing experience, so I'm reading that although Treasure Island appeared on the Amiga and the NES, the NES version is pretty identical and so not really worth the time.

Anyone?

Hmm, that's a good question. I too have been trying out all the alternative consoles for Dizzy games to see what's unique about each one. This list may help you find them all. For the most part it seems as if the Sinclair ZX Spectrum is the primary target of the "8-bit" games, while the Commodore Amiga is the premiere system for the "16-bit" updates. Also the 8-bit versions usually seem more difficult to me, and some of them are actually more sophisticated in my opinion, so that's something to consider when you're deciding which version of an official Dizzy game will give you the best experience.

I know for sure all the ZX Spectrum Dizzy games had ports to the Amstrad CPC and the Commodore 64, and with the exception of Crystal Kingdom Dizzy, all the adventure games had nearly all their graphics copied exactly onto those other computers, so they tend to play pretty similarly. I think the Amstrad CPC versions are the closest in terms of gameplay and music because of some kind of similarities in architecture with the Spectrum; I remember reading that the Oliver Twins actually coded their old Spectrum games on the CPC and transferred the programs over, so it was probably easy enough to just keep that code and only change what was needed for the Amstrad computer to be able to display it. The disadvantage with the CPC is that the high-resolution mode used for the classic Dizzy games only allows four colors, so all the graphics in all those ports had to be reduced to just black, white, red, and green. As if to make up for this, Dizzy's sprite was given a green sheen and red eyes in the early games.

I'm still working my way through the Commodore 64 games, but I'm starting to see what others have said about the physics being a little bit off. I think they made Dizzy's jump a little bit higher, because I was rolling more in the first game, and there's something wrong with the ceiling collisions in the second game where Dizzy gets stuck in place in the ceiling for a while rather than sliding along it. And early games gave Dizzy these creepy squinty eyes. Commodore 64 Dizzy ports are also the most likely to have different music than the rest, but the music tends to sound pretty cool with the Commodore's sound capabilities. Though there was one time when it was the Amstrad CPC that had the different music: In the very first Dizzy game, "The Ultimate Cartoon Adventure", the CPC had a completely different title theme, and was also the only version to have in-game music, but then it only had one sound effect. So that's worth checking out. Finally I should note that, as this review points out, the "Kwik Snax" on C64 is nothing like Kwik Snax on any other system, so you could consider it its own separate game, possibly even closer to Fast Food!

So those are the reasons I think there's often a slight preference for the Spectrum, at least if you can tolerate that color bleeding effect. The Spectrum Dizzy games also seem to be the most likely to feature both music and sound effects. But does anyone know why the music in Spectrum Dizzy adventure games tends to be a whole step lower in pitch than the same music on any other system?

Now, if you're familiar with all the Amiga games, you should know the Atari ST and IBM-PC versions are VERY much the same. I've even found the same glitches in different versions! Typically the Amiga appears to have the edge with its rather advanced sound generation and greater screen height (at least in PAL)--I noticed some of the Atari ST and PC ports had to reduce the status bar to a thin black strip. In MagicLand Dizzy and Dizzy Prince of the Yolkfolk they even had to take out the scoreboard, which makes it pretty absurd when numbers of points float out of the stars and coins in Prince of the Yolkfolk but don't get stored anywhere.

I mentioned the Amiga usually has the coolest music, but the music on PC often sounds pretty good if you have the right soundcard setup. The PC games can also give you some interesting options like converting the graphics to work on CGA or EGA displays, or deciding what graphic effects and inventory style to use in Fantastic Dizzy. Atari ST can only do music with those old-fashioned square waves, but you might end up liking that sound too. As with Commodore 64, about half the Dizzy games on the ST had whole new soundtracks put in for whatever reason, so it might be worth starting up the games if you can find them, just to listen to the new tunes.

Now, while Fantastic Dizzy was on PC and Amiga, in its case I think the main target for the 16-bit port was the Sega MegaDrive/Genesis, so you'll probably find that version the best--but it wasn't the first version of Fantastic Dizzy made! That game's story starts with The Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy on the Nintendo Entertainment System.

That Treasure Island Dizzy for NES you mentioned? Yes, it was mostly like the Amiga/ST versions. But I like it just for having a graphic style all its own, as well as containing some unique secrets! If you want to play it, remember it's only available on a compilation cartridge called Quattro Adventure (or Super Adventure Quests in Europe, but Quattro Adventure is probably easier to find). Quattro Adventure contained a few other hard-as-nails platform games you might enjoy, including the original version of Robin Hood: Legend Quest and the first Linus Spacehead game, which had a more famous sequel, Linus Spacehead's Cosmic Crusade or simply Cosmic Spacehead.

Quattro Arcade was another NES four-in-one compilation that contained another Dizzy game, Go Dizzy Go, which was essentially a sequel to Kwik Snax. Although, since all the Dizzy arcade games had completely different layouts in 16-bit compared to 8-bit, I tend to think of the Amiga/ST/PC versions of Kwik Snax as Kwik Snax 2 and Go Dizzy Go as Kwik Snax 3. Quattro Arcade also included the NES version of C.J.'s Elephant Antics if you were interested in that game.

So then, The Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy was the first really new Dizzy adventure for Nintendo. But watch out when you hunt down a copy, because there were three different versions of the game on the NES alone, and the first two versions were VERY different. The later versions are the ones that all the ports to other systems were based on, so the first version ("blue version" as it's often called due to the different title color) is the most unique, but it's also the most frustrating. It's up to you if you also want to play the "red versions" for NES, but the Sega Master System and Game Gear ports were based so closely on the final NES version that you might as well just play one of the Sega versions to see what their additional changes were. Thus in Fantastic Dizzy's case, NES, SMS, and GG were the "8-bit versions", and Genesis, Amiga, and PC were the "16-bit versions", and there wasn't any Fantastic Dizzy on 8-bit computers unless you count the two mini-games that were turned into stand-alone action games, Bubble Dizzy and Dizzy Down the Rapids.

Dizzy the Adventurer was notable for being the game released with the short-lived Aladdin Deck Enhancer when it first came out, but if you're playing on emulators you won't need to worry about the cartridge format. The game itself is an update of Dizzy Prince of the Yolkfolk, building on the way it was already updated for the 16-bit computers. It's been praised for adding more character interactions that can give hints to new players and make the game's world feel livelier, similar to how Crystal Kingdom Dizzy was updated for 16-bit computers. Additionally a few puzzles have been added and some re-arranged so generally there's more adventuring and less backtracking if you know what you're doing. I think this was also the game where Dizzy gained his ability to run faster. Too bad it was also one of his last. It's also a shame the NES version made the music sound so scratchy, which I guess is one point in the SMS version's favor. The SMS version also made the game a bit harder by turning the torches lethal again and adding new enemies like bees and cave drips, although I sometimes wish they put the life bar back in if they were going to do that. Also the ending of Prince of the Yolkfolk/Adventurer seems to get less interesting with every new version they make, sheesh.

So then if you're looking up Sega Master System/Game Gear Dizzy games, remember that while Fantastic Dizzy was stand-alone, three others were only contained in a compilation called The Excellent Dizzy Collection. Dizzy the Adventurer and Go Dizzy Go were pretty straight ports of the NES games, but Go Dizzy Go and Fantastic Dizzy got whole new soundtracks once again. The music in the Sega version of Go Dizzy Go seemed inspired by the original Kwik Snax on Spectrum, while the Nintendo version sounded more like polka I think. And then Panic Dizzy is very important to note, because like Kwik Snax on Commodore 64, the Panic Dizzy on The Excellent Dizzy Collection is nothing like any other version of Panic Dizzy (or Dizzy Panic). Instead of dropping shapes through the right holes, you're arranging stacks of blocks by pulling them off the ceiling and throwing them back on. You might enjoy it, I don't know.

One thing I would recommend is to play the NES games, and possibly all the video game console games, in NTSC (60 Hz) mode, because they seem to have been designed with that speed in mind, possibly for American distribution first. The home computer games you should probably at PAL (50 Hz) speed, unless you find it too boring and don't mind the music being too fast. Later CodeMasters console games would actually detect what kind of system they were played on and speed up the music and such on PAL to match the NTSC speed better, so that's one reason I feel they were aiming for NTSC first with those.

Finally, I know a lot of the old computers had their own compilations of games which had already been released stand-alone. I haven't done much research into them, but typically they don't change anything. Only possible changes I can think of right now are when someone on another topic said an error in the Commodore 64 version of Dizzy The Ultimate Cartoon Adventure was fixed in some collection, and when I noted all the changes I could spot in The Big 6 in the longplays topic, which were mostly unimportant except for Fantastic Dizzy and possibly Crystal Kingdom Dizzy.

Hi Bag..., thanks for the comprehensive reply! I'll take on board your advice in my search for versions, but I guess what I'm trying to establish is where the major departures are and are not. The Dizzy Domain list is really helpful in figuring out which ports are available, but if it's just a port I'm not so interested.

It's useful that you mention that the standards are Spectrum for 8-bit and Amiga for 16-bit, where other system versions are generally ports, but can we refine the list a little more between us? Like I appreciate that the ST and Amiga versions of Crystal Kingdom Dizzy don't vary too much between the two, but the ST does have a completely different score and worth identifying as a game worth playing just for this difference. It's not just a warbling of the music as the tune parses through a different chip, it's actually a completely different track.

So we might say that a Dizzy game that just has a bug fix or stretched graphics, although technically making it unique, might not be a worthy play through experience compared to the original on another system.

I'm thinking it might be possible to compile a list of these unique Dizzy's similar to the list on Dizzy's Domain, but listed by game instead of system, and giving the main platforms with sub-sections that mention the other platforms and the slight differences (if any) that they have. This would be like any game series recorded on Wikipedia, but also surely something useful to Yolkfolk.com resources and for the Dizzy gamer really trying to complete their Dizzy experience.

It looks like you've got a load of experience with the different versions, so between us I'm sure we could make a start at least, and contributions from others would surely help complete this. What do you think?

I've played a few of the DOS versions which are quite different.. Magicland certanly was.

Different to what? Other DOS versions? Amiga ports? How was it different?

Okay, let me think what other Atari ST Dizzy games had different music from MS-DOS and Amiga. There was Crystal Kingdom Dizzy, and Bubble Dizzy had a whole new soundtrack too. Kwik Snax had different title music, Panic Dizzy had different in-game music, and Prince of the Yolkfolk and MagicLand Dizzy had new songs as well. MagicLand's main theme was actually mostly a remix of the in-game tune from the Commodore 64 version of Treasure Island Dizzy. MagicLand Dizzy's .SNDH file also had a few more songs that I don't think I was able to hear in the game itself--unused music perhaps?

So yeah, it's funny how a few of the Commodore 64 games put in different music, then that new music became the standard for later games. Like both of Treasure Island Dizzy's themes came back a lot, even though the title theme sounds like a pretty loose imitation of the Spectrum/Amstrad original, and the in-game theme, while in the same style as the original, isn't quite as interesting to listen to. MagicLand Dizzy's C64 theme was remixed for the Amiga version, and remixes of it that curiously lacked the main melody were used for the PC version and the title screen of The Big 6. It's just as well that MagicLand got a new tune, since the original tunes ended up getting re-used for Dizzy the Adventurer. I'm pretty sure the Commodore 64 port of Fantasy World Dizzy just recycled the music from Fast Food, although I haven't really gotten around to trying the 8-bit arcade games enough to check (and so I'm not sure which versions of them provide the best experience yet), but I hear a few other tunes got swapped around between ports of those games. Spellbound Dizzy was interesting because I recently realized that, unlike most other versions of the game, the Commodore 64 version has two songs, one for the title screen and one for the gameplay. I think it's just the full song split into two halves, because there are sections of it you can only hear on the title screen and other sections you can only hear while playing.

Checking out the 8-bit versions of Spellbound Dizzy last night reminded me of some other variations in the games. The ports of the adventure games to Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64 often add borders around the sides of the play area to fill out the extra screen area with original art that may be worth seeing once. While the Amstrad CPC port of Spellbound Dizzy still uses the 4-color mode, I noticed that it's not always the same four colors: Some areas will substitute light blue, or purple, or another shade of green, for instance. Of course if it replaces the white or the red then Dizzy's sprite will be changed too. And the text boxes only blank out what's underneath them as the discoloration effect probably wouldn't work too well. But there, I found some ways in which the Amstrad ports aren't completely superfluous.

I also remembered that even within the same ZX Spectrum game there can be a few different ways to play. I'm not very familiar with the system, but I've gathered that two common models of it were "48k" and "128k", referring to the size of program they could store it seems. I think some programs were released in just the 48k format so it would be the same on either system, but 128k games could introduce new features if run on the 128k system; I know on Spectaculator you can choose the model and get different results out of the same 128k image. Usually the only change was the addition of high-quality music throughout the game, but Spellbound Dizzy was noted for changing several things for 128k: NPCs are now animated, some animations may have been made more complex as I didn't see the ring of stars in Dizzy's dizzy animation in 48k, there's a different font (closer to other Dizzy games'?), the attract mode includes advertisement splash screens, there's a new message at Dizzy's starting location, and I read that a bug that made it difficult to give Shamus a shamrock was fixed, but I haven't gotten far enough into any version of the game to really confirm that... All the busywork with the springs and the rocks puts me off from playing long enough to really get into it. But I guess if we really want to discover every difference between game versions, we'll have to play different versions side-by-side so the differences will pop out as they appear, like what I did for Cosmic Spacehead.

Spellbound Dizzy on Commodore 64 seems like an odd mixture of the 48k and 128k Spectrum versions. And I heard that the fall damage was removed in that version, and playing the regular version, that seems to be the case... but I did get Dizzy hurt from some falls in the Lite Edition. I don't know, maybe the rules for getting hurt from falling are different from on Spectrum and CPC, but the physics of falling in the C64 versions in general just feel off in some ways. Jumping around feels okay except I notice Dizzy's sprite juddering sometimes. One thing that surprised me about the 8-bit versions was the the spring-type objects were "solid" and blocked Dizzy from the sides. Not only does that make it more difficult to jump onto the part of the spring you want to, but it could fool a new player into failing to realize that the trampette can be picked up, as it's the only object you would need to grab from the side, and the mushrooms can't be picked up...

Okay, that "Lite Edition" I mentioned? I suppose that belongs in the same class of cut-down "special editions" as the Dizzy 1 Crash and Amstrad Action editions, the Dizzy 2 Crash edition, Christmas Fantastic Dizzy preview, and Easter Eggstravaganza editions of Fast Food, but it shows a bit more creativity. Rather than simply taking the same game world and cutting Dizzy off from most of it, rearranging just enough objects to allow the player to complete that fraction of the game, the Lite version of Spellbound Dizzy features a whole new world layout that uses most of the same game elements but arranges them into new puzzle sequences. For example, instead of using a hammer to repair a track so you can ride a cart along it, you throw a switch to move the cart out of your way, and later you use the hammer to break a rock. Generally I don't recommend trying these special editions until you've already experienced most of the full game, as I feel they are a nice way to revisit a game you already know with some new twists without having to spend all day figuring them all out. But if Spellbound Dizzy is frustrating you too much to want to finish, you might want to check out the Lite edition so you can see most of the same stuff, only faster. By the way, the Crash Special Edition and Amstrad Action Special Edition of Dizzy 1 so far appear to be the same game, except the fake items advertise different things. {yolkfolk}:animwink:

The Spectrum Dizzy games also seem to be the most likely to feature both music and sound effects. But does anyone know why the music in Spectrum Dizzy adventure games tends to be a whole step lower in pitch than the same music on any other system?
This may have something to do with the very limited sound capabilities of the Spectrum 48K - all it had was a single channel 'beeper' - in BASIC the only command to control it was 'BEEP a,b' where a was pitch and b was duration of the sound (or it may have been the other way around, I can never remember). But the most limiting thing about it was that the Spectrum could not BEEP and do anything else at the same time! So, as I recall, if you wanted a tune to play, it had to be played in tiny fractions of a second at a time. This was rectified in the 128K version where they put a dedicated sound chip in it (the same one as on the Amstrad I believe). Of course, the Commode64 had the really rather good at the time SID....

Ok, now can anyone tell me what the differences (if any) were between the games on the Commodore 64, 4 Plus and 16 systems?

I don't know exactly. I'm not even sure if the 16 and Plus/4 ports were officially authorized. They're probably a lot like the 64 versions, but with concessions made for the limitations of the different computers. Here's a video of Fantasy World Dizzy on Commodore 16! Nice "beeper" music, huh?

(I'm actually somewhat familiar with programming sound like that, since I used to make little demos in QBASIC on a PC when I was a little kid. What I was really wondering about was the 128k Spectrum tunes, since they were just like the Amstrad tunes but in a different key. But then I noticed that the Sega Master System ports of Dizzy the Adventurer and Cosmic Spacehead transposed all the songs into various different keys too...)

So I spent another evening sampling the 8-bit versions of Spellbound Dizzy. I actually finished the Lite edition; it was pretty fun, but it was a shame it was so glitchy. It's funny how the Commodore 64 versions don't have the eating animation, just the message "Well done! You found some yummy fruit!!" I noticed the star counter... wasn't a star counter. I believe it's a simple scoring system where you gain 1 point each time you solve a puzzle and make progress. But I found out that it can be raised as much as you want by talking to certain characters repeatedly, so unfortunately the one version of Spellbound Dizzy with a "score" has already made that score pretty meaningless, at least on the copy I have. And I guess you were just supposed to memorize your number of stars.

I think the only time I had to consult a walkthrough was at the very end, because I didn't guess the ZX81 was useful. I did browse through some maps hosted here beforehand though, and in comparing the full edition maps I realized that the 48k Spectrum version appears to only have apples as the healing items, while all the other versions have a variety of foods. That does explain why the description of the game mentions "separated collection (stars) and healing (apples) items", as I was thinking "But there are more kinds of healing items than just apples!" Still, the sentence as a whole, "The game also presents slightly different user interface, graphics and concepts that never occurred earlier or later in the series: an inventory with items icons, separated collection (stars) and healing (apples) items (in other games they are always '2 in 1'), hidden passages and dynamic animated set pieces (the travel tunnels, the mining cart etc)" doesn't make much sense to me as most of those things were done again in Fantastic Dizzy. If both Spellbound Dizzy and Fantastic Dizzy used the separated item types, and only MagicLand Dizzy and Prince of the Yolkfolk used "2-in-1", then I don't see why the older system would take precedence anymore.

Also in the 48k version I noticed Theodore didn't have the whole first conversation with Dizzy; he just went right into explaining what items he needed. They really added a lot for 128k, didn't they? Or did Big Red come up with the 128k version first, then start removing everything that wasn't absolutely essential in order to cram it into 48k? Anyway, I'm starting to learn some of the tricks to avoiding fall damage. For one thing, when I fall into the pit, I know I can just land on the trampette and push no buttons, and Dizzy will bounce in place lower and lower until eventually it's safe to jump off. Of course it will be trickier to work out what to do with the springy mushrooms, which always bounce Dizzy the same height.

That next sentence on the game page jumped out at me too: "There are additional Dizzy animations and abilities, Swimming for instance (once you get the Flippers), Eating frames, Concussed frames (after falling) and so on." So it seems that Spellbound Dizzy would be a good start for you to get a lot of Dizzy sprites as you were looking for in your "Sprites" topic, Havelock. Of course don't forget to check all the other games for extra sprites, as I remember there were different graphics for swimming in Crystal Kingdom Dizzy, and The Ultimate Cartoon Adventure had that entrance animation with the parts flying onto Dizzy's body as it expands onto the scene, or the reverse for death.

And since you're looking for every unique Dizzy experience, don't forget to check out that "Dizzy 3 and a Half" or "Into MagicLand". It's not much of a game; it'll only take you a few minutes to complete, as it's just a teaser to get you excited about buying the next Dizzy game, just like that Seymour Take One thing. But it does have a new character and a few new objects, and then you get to know the "full" background story to MagicLand Dizzy, so there! At least I think it's supposed to explain where Dizzy gained the ability to stand on clouds...

So after I finished the Amstrad CPC version of Spellbound Dizzy, I read through all the topics on the Spellbound Dizzy board here, and I discovered that there's a 64k version of the CPC game. It's based on the 48k Spectrum version, with the missing animations and messages, except it's still got the Amstrad colors of course, and I think you can still get music?

Also, I was playing around and noticed that if you place Dizzy on one of the slopes underneath the rainclouds in the Sinclair/Amstrad versions, especially on the right side and especially on Amstrad, then once in a while the raindrops will cause Dizzy to bounce up a little! It doesn't happen on the grass, only on those slopes. Why would they do that? I wonder if it's some lingering code that gives a bit of "solidity" to objects that don't really need it, like how some objects in Treasure Island Dizzy would prop Dizzy up a little after setting them down.